Shoguneagle

In response to Dark Days; https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2024/01/29/dark-days/

Chances are you will never read this. You don’t permit comments on your blog either, so I can imagine just how much you’ve insulated yourself from outside critique while throwing your stones from a glass house. 2023 was a difficult year for most, but hardly a nightmare. Most folks seemed to have weathered it through the very best they could, in spite of what current administrations and economists have pushed. But I’ll get to that later. 2024 is simply, 2024; an arbitrary number on the calendar, and in of itself is not metric of where humanity should be, despite the 1950’s and 1960’s “flying car and self-sustaining white picket fence” utopia that proved that most dreams are simply that.

Yes, there is war everywhere. But really, just three or four added to the ever-growing stack that was ushered in from the late-1990s onward. Yemen has been troubled for two decades now, North Korea an irritating thorn in the side of Asia since its “independence,” Venezuela “nationalized” itself and caved to a socialist prick with a cult of personality. Myanmar also, has been troubled, and not really worth mentioning, since no one is apt to do anything about it.

Speaking of ineptitude, let’s talk about American politics and why it has become polarized. The United States government has become a bloated, inept tax-dollar sinkhole, and both of the two political parties in power have been milking this situation longer than I’ve been alive; administration after administration riddled with false promises and malingering with no real direction, vision, or competent leadership. Right now, we have a literal puppet, suffering from on-set dementia and old age, in front and center on the stage of the world, has permitted the opening of the southern border and allowed a flood of illegal immigrants to pour in. One might say that is the very definition of sedition. Who coerced the American people into two and half years of lockdowns that killed tens of thousands of small businesses, unemployed hundreds of thousands, and forced the largest transfer of wealth in American history. Who forced a military withdrawal into one of the biggest strategic blunders since the Vietnam War, continued the destabilization of the Middle East and Southwest Asia, and empowered dozens of radical extremist groups in Syria and Iraq with CIA-funded dollars and weaponry. Who likely took bribes from Ukraine and the PRC with his son as political proxy.

I’m not even talking about Donald Trump; I’m talking about the guy you voted for, George. The guy who put us back on the brink of World War Three with Russia. If we are becoming the next Weimar Republic, it’s because of old heads such as yourself who vote entirely upon party lines and incessant virtue signaling. If we are on the brink of civil war, it’s because dickheads such as yourself, who never served a single day of their lives in any form of military service, can’t understand the consequences of what you are supporting. January 6th was a nothing burger to all except those in power, who used it to insulate themselves from their constituents and create a precedent from which they could incarcerate any and all who dare challenge their authority.

It’s not because you are famous, wealthy, and supposedly, have a big platform. It’s because you’re an asshole, George. You have no beneficial discourse in any of this, because people like you enjoy the benefits of the status quo. You didn’t write dissertations on the sociopolitical changes of the post-Cold War landscape, or debate with historians regarding the significance of failings in Iraq and Afghanistan; you wrote fantasy novels. Fantasy novels with post-modern tropes of rampant brutality, carnal debauchery, characters comprised entirely of shades of grey temperament for the sake of perpetuating edgy shades of grey plot development. It is a direct reflection of what you (falsely) believe the world at large is. It isn’t. And wasn’t. Tyrants were executed; most nobles were humanely treated and ransomed because of their political leverage.

As for “death being everywhere,” yes. You’re an old man. That’s what happens. Your buddies in the industry have passed on beyond the mortal coil, because that’s the natural state of things. I’m losing relatives every year or so, because they’re old and their health is failing them. What’s more important, however, is remembering them for who they were, how they lived, and the memories I have with them. Keeping people alive in your memory is how they endure. How we endure. The greats are remembered by those who find remembering them as important. Homer, whether he really existed or didn’t, is remembered by his stories. The Epic of Gilgamesh is perhaps the oldest hero’s journey story ever told, and it is older than nearly the entirety of human civilization.

You are perpetually worried about things that are not under your control. Irrationally so. Death, nukes, the climate; the world could’ve ended three times over during the Cold War with the lay-man never knowing. Humanity endured numerous climate-altering events across its entire existence. As for death… I addressed that above. You can’t escape it. Maybe live a little better, take enjoyment from your remaining years.

If you’re seeking solace from what you’ve sewn, you are the only one who can fix that. If “anti-fans” exist, it is because you let them down. You never finished what you started. You phoned in the ending, and then subsequently lashed out at your fans when they rightfully called you out. Then you wrote another book to extrapolate more from the setting of the story you never finished. It’s funny you mentioned Harlan Ellison earlier, because I think he would be the first in line to personally call you out for abandoning your story. For not finishing what you started, but reaping all of the reward and the praise like you did. He hated writers like that. He called out writers like that. He made enemies of writers such as you; who received undue praise, won undeserved Hugos and Nebulas, and championed virtue signaling instead of freedom of speech.

I don’t want to get into your view on immigration and the like. You’re grossly ill-informed and take all of your viewpoints from the mainstream media. No one hates immigrants. They hate invasion. They hate the denigration of law and order and the breakdown of society and its infrastructure. They hate people who cheat their way in and circumvent the legal path. And they hate people who enable it. People like you, George.

It is indeed, sad. Sad to see a man in his mid-to-late seventies make an absolute embarrassment of himself and behave like a child. Someone who clearly has talent and deft writing skill and the intellect to know better.

For your sake, get off the internet, George. Get off of X (or Twitter, whatever it’s called now). Before you further expose how you really feel, and completely tarnish your legacy.

Well, I have the new poll posted, and right now of the six ships listed, both the Republic-class and the Rejuvenator-class are at the tippy-top, with the Republic-class in the lead by 6%.

I completely understand wanting commissioned art for the Republic-class. While there are established art pieces for it (two, in fact), the design is…um… kind of bad. Bad in the “we don’t know what we want to see, so just make something” kind of way. The ship is described well-enough; somewhat smaller than an ISD at 1,250 meters in length, packs 20% more firepower than an ISD-1, carries one full wing of starfighters, and has a more bulbous, organic shape influenced by Mon Calamari ships, among other descriptors. But it just looks ugly, something that neither an ISD nor a Mon Calamari capital ship are. I have some ideas and the final product will undoubtedly depart from the original somewhat; but it should be fleshed out a lot better, and I think it’s something Adam can tackle competently.

Now for the Rejuvenator-class, here’s what we know from the EU material: they were built during the Yuuzhan Vong War and served during major campaigns during the last months of that conflict. And they were named as star destroyers, which is interesting for the New Republic / GFFA, because by now, star defenders are in-production and usage, in the form of the Viscount and Strident-classes. By the time the Second Galactic Civil War begins, we don’t really see non-Imperial vessels classified as star destroyers. The Blue Diver was a Mon Calamari heavy carrier, and the Dodonna a Galactic-class battle carrier, though the latter undoubtedly fielded similar levels of armament and capability, just the naming convention fell out of favor. So the Rejuvenator-class seems to be its own animal, and could fall under either KDY or Rendili StarDrive production. I think it could be the very last design of ship fielded under the New Class Modernization Program, classified as such at a time when looming political change didn’t quite hold sway yet, delayed by the then on-going conflicts with the Imperial Warlords and the Remnant… and perhaps even taken back to the drawing board once the Yuuzhan Vong’s capabilities manifested and completely overhauled. Perhaps it was a pre-Peace Accord idea they were going to kill outright… but ultimately “rejuvenated” when the need arose.

What do you think? And most importantly, how would you like to see this ship manifested?

... it's apathy.

Twenty-five years ago, if you told a teenaged me that one day, someone would make Heir to the Empire and bring Thrawn to the big screen, I doubt I’d believe it. First thing I’d probably mention would be the age of the actors and it would make much more sense to make movies oriented around Jacen and Jaina, and set it 25 years after Endor. Most every Star Wars fan accepted these movies wouldn’t be made unless recasting was involved, and no one wanted that. It wouldn’t feel the same.

Now, if time traveling, world-weary and forty-something year-old me popped in and explain what we did get, I doubt I’d believe that either. I’d question the Disney acquisition; wonder what in the hell Rebels is, and ask why Han, Luke, Leia, Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, and various other minor, but memorable characters aren’t involved in some capacity. I’d probably be more concerned in finding out why the world is cheering on a war between Russia and Ukraine when the Cold War ended a mere seven years to me… but that’s a different tale.

From what I’ve watched of Ahsoka (and it’s not much), there were some notable callback moments, some nice eye candy (and by that, I mean ships, specifically the appearance of the E-Wing), but also actions taken by protags and antags that make zero sense, choices in character development that seem forced, plot-driven inconsistency regarding the behavior of a specific character whom two shows and two seasons ago would not take on a student because they didn’t identify with that life any longer and sent them away to find “one of their kind.”

It’s not a terrible show, but it’s not great either. It’s somewhere in-between, which seems to be par for the current course of the franchise evoking long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

If you saw the leaked trailer of the Acolyte after this, then I think you can grasp my apprehension. Star Wars prior to the Disney acquisition prided itself with respect to consistency to both its lore and its characters. It wasn’t perfect, what with the sheer amount of material made, but they at least tried. You knew what characters could do, and what they couldn’t. You knew if they were Force-sensitive, or not. You knew that you couldn’t just emerge from hyperspace mere meters above the surface of a planet, or use your ship to ram at superliminal speeds into much more powerful vessels. You knew that lightsabers strikes were deadly, or resulted in loss of limb minimum. The Force was much more esoteric; removed from the common being, and yet, still there… just not accessible to them to use and manipulate.

Put simply, this adherence, reverence, and attention to detail has since evaporated. There’s now always a magic McGuffin somewhere that can lead to anything, a device that can transport the main cast anywhere the plot demands (though in a galaxy with a thousand generations time worth of routine hyperspace travel, it seems no one ever attempted it before), the Goldilocks placement of organs and body frame that can sustain a golf ball-sized hole clean through (that or Nerf sabers). Or that the villains are so hell-bent on killing the heroes, they opt to shoot at the characters outside of the ship, instead of AT that much larger (and dead in the water) target they are standing upon.

It’s the soul-deadening logic of “Who cares, <brand> and profit!” And the result, at least for me, is apathy. If they can’t be bothered, should I?

“Whose Line Is It Anyway?” was a brilliant comedy show because everyone knew it was about the material: the gags, and punch-lines, the improv. The points didn’t matter. But Star Wars isn’t that; it’s not supposed to be. The stakes matter. The actions and reactions of the characters matter. The pacing, the gradual climb, the climax, the pay-off… these matter.

The feeling I received was that none of the main characters were in any real danger, because the story wouldn’t let it happen. Sabine can’t die. She couldn’t even lose a limb. Because, as we know, she needs to become a Disney prin… err, Jedi. And she needs to become a Jedi, because all of the lead heroes are Jedi now.

So, pick up your contractually-obligated Lightsaber TM (All Rights Reserved), undergo your mandatory Jedi training under a reluctant “master” who wouldn’t train the being who actually survived Order 66 and had Jedi training, and go be a Jedi… so you can beat the Dark Jedi looking… for… Thrawn. Sure, you could’ve been a Mando. Could’ve fought Dark Jedi as Mando. Could’ve told your reluctant former master “No thanks, I’m a Mandalorian. Always have been. I’ll do it my way. This is the way.”

I haven’t watched any of the last episode. I don’t really care to. And I can imagine what Harvey Weinstein’s former “assistant”/pimp has in store for <brand>. It won’t be a rock named Geode, but it will most certainly, be stoned.

Addendum: Not going to lie, I'm in a fairly sour mood, namely over the lack of objective quality these days. Civilization is held together via meritocracy, not "community." If community was a genuine quality, Rome would still be standing.

Following my fallout once the final nail in WOTC's coffin was hammered in (my own stance regarding their greed, ineptitude, and clearly demonstrated ill-will towards their customer base), I caught the Old School Roleplaying bug. I bought into crowdfunding campaigns for Shadowdark and Knave 2nd Edition, picked up the Old School Essentials basic set from my local gaming store, and ordered both of the Dungeon Crawl Classics and Mutant Crawl Classics rulebooks from Goodman Games. Each has its own charm, unique feel, and particular game mechanics. The stripping down of most of D&D 3.5/4/5E's crunch and harkening back to an arguably simpler time appeals to me, and player characters lose most of their borderline superhuman abilities in favor of a grittier, and potentially more lethal style of play.

I've begun writing a mostly sandbox setting called the Shimmering Peak, where the players start locally, and via exploration and dungeon-delving, reveal more and more of the world around them. Initially, I wanted to adapt Shadowdark as the default ruleset, which adapts a faster style of play revolving around turns and the real-time use of torch/lantern light to determine pacing and session length. This one seemed the most appropriate to use from what I knew at the time.

During that process, however, my subsequent reading of Dungeon Crawl Classics left me enamored with its rule system; the way magic is treated within it is both gonzo and bonkers... and I love it! Spell strength and effect elevate based upon the character's level and die rolls... or if failure is rolled during die checks, can drastically impact that character permanently. Add in the Patrons and Patron Spells... and that further contributes to said impact. It's a lot more unpredictable, including the method that spells are learned and what unique characteristics apply to them; the result is that each magic user is unique. Couple this with the more lethal form of a gameplay, and you have a much more unpredictable outcome; player characters can easily wipe if the die falls poorly, and I'm not sure if that quite captures the feel of my setting.

The Old School Essentials seems to be a more grounded ruleset. It takes the earliest versions of D&D and AD&D (including characteristics of armor class and encumbrance such as THAC0), and revises them to make them somewhat simpler and easily referenced. Between this, DCC, and Shadowdark, it is definitely the most vanilla of the three, but offers a solid baseline that most tabletop gamers would likely be familiar with.

What do you think? Any particular preference that you have?

As of late, I've shifted focus a bit, from my fan settings onto my own wholly original works, namely Dirty Birds and the newest, anime/shoot 'em up game-themed one, Super Dimensional Phalanx Athena. But ever since my eyes absorbed words from the Mothership RPG and its various expansion and third-party material, I've wanted to create material for it. Something I hope to put to print and add even more enjoyment for others.

And so, I have two modules in the brainstorming stages: "... You wanna live forever?!" and Strange Light.

The first involves a crew hauling cargo along a relatively-secure outlier trade route back to one of the SynTec Corporation hubs... until something breaks out of the perishable holds' containment... consuming crew and changing shape along the way. To answer the distress call are the "Semper Vigilantes," the "Devil Dogs on the Rim." The Intersystem Marine Corps. But what exactly are they facing? From who's whim have they been requested (besides the ship's blue collar crew)? And why? Will also feature the IMC's breakdown, running Marine PC's, the Warden's briefing on Marine-centric sessions, and random tables for additional character build flavor and/or adventure hooks. Hoo-rah!

Strange Light involves the lay-over of a freighter crew on a frontier world whose parent star emits a spectrum of light that makes humans feel unnatural. At a sufficient distance, this is mere discomfort, but closer to the star (and on the planet within its habitable zone), this becomes far more extreme, and instills sensations of fear, paranoia, agoraphobia, and even hallucinations. After a forced extension further exposes the crew to this condition (and the waystation's "touched" inhabitants), they can finally depart and resume their voyage. Until one of the crew is viciously maimed and killed. Everyone else has been accounted for... allegedly. The security footage shows nothing. Is someone lying? Or is something attacking them that cannot be seen?